Some believe the former Luden Mansion will never be empty

Central Catholic High School may not have opened its doors to students this year, but if generations of stories are to be believed, the former Luden Mansion along Hill Road will never be empty.

Rich Zerkowski is a Central Catholic graduate who developed a deep fascination with the tales told by students, teachers, administrators and nuns who truly believe the building is haunted.

William Luden made a fortune in the candy and confection business. His 40-room home, Bon Air, was among the most opulent in the area when it was completed in 1922. The Ludens also maintained mansions in Miami, Palm Beach, Fla., Atlantic City, N.J., and Villanova.

Zerkowski provided some background on the family.

"Living in the home just after the construction," he wrote, "were the Luden parents and two children, a daughter and a son. The son, believed to be called Billy and thus named after his father, William, was not the most stable sort.

"Billy wanted nothing more than to leave the house where his parents ruled. He was in his late teens or early 20s, and his parents were not keen to allow him further freedoms. His father went so far as to forbid him leaving the house except for daytime excursions."

In his research of written and oral histories, Zerkowski discovered what he believes is the genesis of the ghost stories of Bon Air.

"One night the Ludens returned after an evening out to find the home quiet and still," he wrote. "Ascending the marble stairs to their master suite area, Mr. Luden was drawn to the wooden staircase, which made its way from the second to the third floor of the home.

"It was there that he found himself horror-struck. Billy was hanging by his neck in the space from the third floor down to the second. Obviously already dead, Mr. Luden quickly ushered his wife from the area so that he could attend his son's body.

"At the bottom of the stairs there was a hand-scrawled note from Billy. It read, 'Father, now I shall never leave this house.'

"And the legend was born. "

That legend has grown exponentially over the years that the mansion served as a school. And the extent and intensity of ghostly activity there has been wide-ranging.

Billy, as the ghost has been known, has caused consternation on several levels, as Zerkowski reported.

"He seemed to only exhibit playful tendencies with the students of the school, while sometimes causing more troubling things to happen with adults," he wrote. "This may be an effect of his feeling of captivity while living in the home ruled by his powerful father. It could also simply be that he feels more comfortable with the students who were closer to the age he was when he died."

In his research, Zerkowski came across the story of an electrician who was doing repair work in the school in the mid-1960s and got a shock of the nonelectrical kind.

"The electrician that the school used was contacted and told that the problem needed to be fixed that evening so as not to interrupt the normal school day," he wrote. "Three workers arrived and were shown the problem and given a key with which they would lock up when they finished.

"The school was empty as they began to work by shutting down the breakers governing the power to the third floor. Once the problem was diagnosed, two of the three workers descended the wooden staircase from which Billy once swung, going from the third to the second floor and then the marble stairs below to retrieve the needed equipment. When they reached the first floor a terrible scream came down to them from above.

"They ran the steps taking two at a time until they were back on the third floor. If running the stairs hadn't already taken most of the air from their lungs, the sight before them likely would have. Their friend was being suspended against the wall off of his feet in thin air. He was literally being held against the wall by nothing. They pried him away and all of three of them quickly made their way down the two flights of stairs and out of the school.

"The next day the electricians called the office to let them know what happened and asked that the tools that they left behind be brought back to them as they would not be returning to the school. A new electrician was brought in and the problem was fixed, during the day this time."

In our next installment, Rich Zerkowski's accounts of teachers and students who had personal encounters with Billy, the ghost of Bon Air.

Charles J. Adams III is the author of more than 30 books on ghosts and hauntings in the mid-Atlantic states. His latest book is "Eastern Pennsylvania Ghost Files: Updated." Contact him at gohaunting@aol.com.